Wagon Jumpers - June 22 - July 5th, 2008 (two week special!)
THIS THREAD HAS BEEN EDITED FOR WEEK 2 RESPONDENTS
Welcome to the Wagon Jumpers weekly thread. We are a group of CC members who have identified that one of our main challenges with achieving our weight loss, maintenance or general health goals is consistency.
This thread is designed to encourage long term commitment to our goals by publicly declaring them and asking the other members of this thread to hold us accountable.
Each member on this thread (listed below) has agreed to check into the thread at least once per week. If any member does not check in by the end of the week, we ask all members to politely and positively PM that member and encourage them to make a post and stay on track (or get back on track).
If you would like to be a member of this thread, either leave a note here and I will add you, or send me a PM.
What Are The Numbers Beside The Names?
As our group is getting larger it is becoming more difficult to stay on top of 2 day and MIA reminders for members. While this is not a challenge, and not a competition, the numbers are here to encourage members to stay active in the program by identifying and rewarding those who are most active in the program.
Name - (Rem #/#, %; MIA #/#, %)
REM = Reminder (2 day reminder sent out on Thursday's)
#/# is how many reminders were needed out of how many weeks the person has participated.
% - is what percentage of time has the person been able to actively participate in the program unassisted by reminders.
MIA - is Missing In Action, you end up on the MIA list if you do not post Sunday - Saturday of a given week.
#/# - is how many weeks has the person been on the MIA list of the weeks participated.
% - is how much of the program has the person been active in.
In other words, your goal is to keep your numbers as low as possible and your percentages as high as possible. The way to do this is to make sure you post as early as you can in the week.
Wagon Jumpers Participants
Week 8 Riders - Congratulations on 2 Months!:
Supersized (myself) - (Rem 0/9, 100%; MIA 0/8, 100%)
Jane3001 - (Rem 3/9, 67%; MIA 0/8, 100%)
JCR - (Rem 1/9, 89%, MIA 0/8, 100%) - Traveling July to July 12th, 2008
Karenie - (Rem 2/9, 78%; MIA 0/8 100%) - Bad weather may not be able to post
Kaydeefalls - (Rem 1/9, 89%; MIA 0/8, 100%) - Traveling to July 25th, 2008
Vicki8seekers - (Rem 0/9, 100%; MIA 0/8, 100%) Traveling to July 7th, 2008
FantasyFlight - (Rem 6/9, 33%; MIA 0/8, 100%)
Got2getthin - (Rem 2/9, 78%; MIA 0/8, 100%)
Week 7 Riders:
Kreitter - (Rem 4/9, 56%; MIA 1/8, 87%)
Hopeful31 - (Rem 4/8, 50%; MIA 0/7, 100%)
Defrog3 - (Rem 0/8, 100%; MIA 0/7, 100%)
Week 6 Riders:
Thin27 - (Rem 7/9, 22%; MIA 2/8, 75%)
Healthfirst - (Rem 4/8, 50%; MIA 1/7, 86%)
Rwbsmom - (Rem 3/8, 62%; MIA 1/7, 86%) - travelling July 13 - August 16, 2008
Igrratu - (Rem 5/8, 37%; MIA 1/7, 86%)
Jburgin - (Rem 4/9, 56%; MIA 2/8, 75%)
Week 5 Riders:
Writestuff - (Rem 4/8, 50%; MIA 2/7, 71%) - Iowa, sever weather, may not be able to post
Sarah_11235 - (Rem 2/6, 67%; MIA 0/5, 100%)
Peera - (Rem 1/6, 83%; MIA 0/5, 100%)
Ser25 - (Rem 3/6, 50%; MIA 0/5, 100%)
Ld1984 - (Rem 2/6, 67%; MIA 0/5, 100%)
Lumcti - (Rem 1/6, 83%; MIA 0/5, 100%)
Week 4 Riders - Congratulations on 1 month!:
Madikim - (Rem 6/6, 0%; MIA 1/5, 80%)
Wenchi58 - (Rem 4/5, 20%; MIA 0/4, 100%)
Msmeg1984 - (Rem 0/5, 100%; MIA 0/4, 100%)
The_Vitamin_Dominatrix - (Rem 2/5, 60%; MIA 0/4, 100%)
Week 3 Riders:
Jopi - (Rem 5/5, 0%; MIA 1/4, 75%)
Kroszelle - (Rem 4/5, 20%; MIA 1/4, 75%)
Hurley_Mom - (Rem 1/4, 75%; MIA 0/3, 100%)
Ciosa1020 - (Rem 2/4, 50%; MIA 0/3, 100%)
Week 2 Riders:
Elaughter - (Rem 1/3, 67%; MIA 0/2, 100%)
Shannyshan - (Rem 3/3, 0%; MIA 0/2, 100%)
Ka2007 - (Rem 2/3, 33%; MIA 0/2, 100%)
Tiegurl - (Rem 0/3, 100%; MIA 0/2, 100%)
Week 1 Riders:
Deedee1 - (Rem 2/3, 33%; MIA 1/2, 50%)
M_saluone - (Rem 1/2, 50%; MIA 0/1, 100%)
Unlimitedana - (Rem 0/2, 100%; MIA 0/1, 100%)
Inshapemommy - (Rem 0/2, 100%; MIA 0/1, 100%)
SkinnybyJune9th - (Rem 1/2, 50%; MIA 0/1, 100%)
Platypipearson - (Rem 1/2, 50%; MIA 0/1, 100%)
Lilley1199 - (Rem 1/2, 50%; MIA 0/1, 100%)
Raven21 - (Rem 0/2, 100%; MIA 0/1, 100%)
Jilly_Bean - (Rem 1/2, 50%; MIA 0/1, 100%)
KittyKat596 - (Rem 0/2, 100%; MIA 0/1, 100%)
New:
Justjess_1 - (Rem 0/1, 100%; MIA n/a)
Missing In Action
Newsjunkie1 - (Rem 6/9, 33%; MIA 3/8, 62%)
Marlasinger - (Rem 6/8, 25%; MIA 3/7, 57%)
Tntgal - (Rem 2/3, 33%; MIA 1/2, 50%)
Missing In Action - 1 Week:
Tally-Ho - (Rem 5/9, 45%; MIA 3/8, 67%)
Mpscarlet - (Rem 6/7, 14%; MIA 3/6, 50%)
Hannahrifka - (Rem 4/4, 0%; MIA 2/4, 50%)
Missing In Action - 2 Weeks:
Gettinghealthy123 - (Rem 5/8, 37%; MIA 3/7, 57%)
Previous Threads:
Wagon Jumpers June 15-21, 2008
Wagon Jumpers May 25 - 31, 2008
Wagon Jumpers May 18 - 24, 2008
Wagon Jumpers Week 1 (May 4 - 10)
Wagon Jumpers - Anyone Need a Lift? (initial thread)
As always all members are encouraged to tag this thread so that it is easy to find.
well thank you. my total loss in 7 days was 7 lbs. had the last birthday cake last night. a black forest cake that i made for my daughter. got to leave the rest of it at her place! there are 3 birthdays, each occurring every two weeks from may 26th to june 26th. so i've been dealing with eating out, and making and eating birthday cakes. so i'm back on the band wagon again....this time for an extended period of time. i'd like to be close to my goal weight by the end of the year. i have 40 lbs to drop. the bike riding and walking continues. i have put 51.5 miles on my bike since i got my odometer for it on my birthday, june 12th.
everyone.....you CAN jump right back on when and if you mess up. i've done it enough. i also have come to believe very adamently that staying on the exact calorie intake day after day will only eventually lead to a plateau. i've been on several of those, and found the best way to get you body to start dropping the pounds again is to mix up your calories a little bit every day. don't always eat at the same exact time if you can mix it up a little. sometimes you only need a 30 minutes difference. keep your body confused, so it can't reach a set point.
Hi, all,
For me, this past week has been great. I've cracked through the 200 pound mark, although my 30-day moving average weight is still hovering right over 200. This is OK for now, but it would be awesome if I can get it to break through before my birthday on July 3rd. This was my first mini-goal!
The upcoming challenge for me is to not celebrate with food and drink this week: I have scheduled a lunch w/former co-workers on July 2nd; my husband is taking me to my favorite French restaurant on my birthday (at least they keep the portions small there!); we're going to a family picnic for my husband's side on the 4th; and, on the 5th and 6th, we're going to be in Cape May with my family, where there will likely be a seafood fest, YUM. In sum, a challenging weekend!
My plan is to counteract all of these festivities with exercise: After a 30 mile bike ride yesterday I burned and kept (as in didn't eat back) a 1,300 calorie deficit. Today I intend to maintain a 1,000 calorie deficit, again, earned through exercise (marathon vinyasa yoga session). Tomorrow perhaps I'll get up early and go for a 5 mile walk/jog in the morning. I'll take Tuesday off and Wednesday is an hour with my trainer--perhaps I'll spend some extra time on the treadmill afterwards. Thursday pilates class, then I need to somehow convince my husband that we CAN fit both of our bikes and his kayak on the roof of our Honda Civic. I don't care if we look ridiculous going down the highway--I want to be able to ride when I'm in Cape May to burn the calories! If not, then perhaps I'll just take his kayak for a spin in Delaware Bay...
I expect that the week of July 7th I will be able to be on the wagon full-bore. I just hope that I don't do too much damage!
deedee-that's a great idea about mixing up the timing of meals--I'll have to try that!! Congrats on getting the bike odometer. If you want to track the miles as you plan your bike rides, you might want to check out mapmyride.com--its a fun site!
msmeg, kroszelle, elaugher, I am one who will eat the cookie whole bag, too. I've got to keep telling myself--ONE is okay. ONE HUNDRED is only for pilates...
skinnybyjune--congrats on getting your degree!! Ignore your husband's comments. Mine has noticed that the sisters have shrunk, but I say, what can I do? They're mostly fat!!
Welcome to all the recent members!
To all in the US, happy July 4th, to all in Canada, happy Canada Day!
Howdy all,
Thought I'd drop in with another one of oh-so-loved links. Lifehacker again :) Maybe this will help those of you who are trying to kick the high calorie drink habit.
Enjoy!
http://lifehacker.com/397378/what-are-your-be st-alternatives-to-soda
man, i am having a rough time with this lately
been falling off the wagon. haven't lost weight in 2 weeks, but that's understandable given my HORRIBLE eating habits lately. pretty much thrown it to the wind and have been eating whatever i want on the weekends.
so. it's back to the grind. :( i still have like, 10 pounds to lose to make my 180 goal before the august 1 wedding. that's just like me though, procrastinating till the end. i could really use some encouragement... :(
OK, I fell off the wagon. This time, I had a really hard time getting back on. Thanx for the PM's, they helped.
Lot's going on, not really seeing any results, so have been very discouraged....I'm back on today.....seventeen days to vacation, must fit into shorts.....I'm not buying any new summer clothes and if I don't lose a bit in inches, I'm stuck wearing jeans in Northern Ontario and it's going to be HOT!
Welcome to the new members, lot's of activities, I haven't read everything yet, but promise to catch up soon.
Hang on to the wagon everyone - for me, it's going to be a bumpy summer!
So my week last week was not as good as I know that it can be. I slipped up at the end of the week and the weekend. Weekends are particularly difficult for me because my boyfriend comes to visit me.
This week I am determined to get to the gym tomorrow and wednesday for an hour at least. I am leaving early on thursday to go to the beach with some friends and I want to look good in my bikini this weekend. I know it will be tough food wise with 4th of july and all, but I am going to try my best to make good decisions.
I realize that losing these 10 pounds is hard for me because I absolutely love food, I am not full of motivation to work out, and the fact that my boyfriend tells me I'm perfect and thinks i'm crazy for wanting to lose weight. I'm starting to really crack down on myself and limit the amount and types of food that will throw me off track.
Hey defrog3 - congrats on getting under 200! I can celebrate that with you! And, have fun in Cape May, I grew up there and would love to go back to visit. I was so encouraged by your post, sounds like you have a great plan. I can't wait to hear how you did.
Lots of others are struggling: Kittykat, rwbsmom, igrratu - deedee1 is right, you can get right back on after fallign off the wagon. Stay with it!
I am looking forward to my weigh in tomorrow morning. I know it hasn't been much this week but it is steady. I've been staying under my calorie count of 1400 but eating a few to many skinny cow fudge bars! Need some nutrition too, I guess. I also NEED to start being a little more active too. It's just so hot lately! Anyone have any good suggestions on how to get motivated to exercise?
have had some internet/computer issues. thankfully we have 2 computers... although the one that is newer, faster etc crashed... and this one needed some work. That work, is now completed and I'm online again.
I'm still on the eat healthy, conscious look at what I'm eating, drink water and get exercise plan, but due to the above have not done much regarding counting. (hard enough to do it online--let alone on paper!)
Also--I'm on a week vacation (I needed one!)... and we are leaving town tomorrow for 3 days/2 nights. I'll be concious of my food choices-- but not too rigid. It is a vay cay right?
Hope all are well... Ciosa
I would like to join this thread. I just started on CC and don't really have the hang of it yet. I have tagged this though and just hope I can figure out how to use the forum at first (I'm terrible on the computer). I am a 30 year old mother of 3, stay at home mom weighing 198 lbs. and I'm 5' 5". I would like to get down around 140. I have started counting the calories and exercising many times before and actually feel better and start to see inches go but I ALWAYS end up stopping a few weeks into it. I don't know why.....I have asked friends and family to be there so I can be accountable to someone and they say yes but that's as far as it ever goes, nobody calls to check up or anything. I know I mainly have to be accountable to myself but it makes it easier to have someone who is expecting a check in from you :) I am an emotional eater who just enjoys food...period. I am also a night time snacker...I will do really well with my calorie count all day but as soon as 8p.m. hits I turn into a munchie monster! I hope this forum will help me out and you all seem so nice and willing to be there for one another.
Thanks for reading,
Jessica
Just checking in!
Last week not so good to sticking to my calorie limits, went overboard twice but I did manage to drink my daily intake of water. This seemed to speed up my digestion and yesterday I discovered that I lost 6 pounds! I'm definitely going to stick drinking enough water and try to stick to my calorie limit as well.
Welcome Jessica. I have the same night time habit as you do! Its been tough to break, but I'm getting there as I'm sure you can do the same. I've also had trouble being consistent in counting my calories, but i've found this group to be pretty helpful on feeling more obligated to stick to your plan.
Thanks for the encouragement inshapemommy, I think it really helps to have that. As for activity motivation, I find it very difficult as well. Lately i've just been telling myself that if I get out there and be active I will feel better about myself and eventually enjoy working out(that's my reasoning anyway)
Another strategy of mine is writing it down somewhere, I'm a big fan of leaving myself post-it notes telling myself to get moving!
Confession: I did not so much as glance at CC for the past week and a half. I've been busy with work and out of town and stuff, but mostly I just didn't care. It's not even that I was horrible with my eating or working out, but I just didn't want to think about it. These are the hardest times for me...the times when I come dangerously close to falling off the wagon, and sometimes can't manage to hang on. I'm visiting my family for the 4th, and I will likely spend most of my weekend in a bathing suit (ugh!!). It's so weird to me how I always do this to myself...I'll be so good for a few weeks, and then when I have a big event on the horizon, one that I know I'll be self conscious about my weight, I just throw it all away and say what's the point? I'm trying to cling to the wagon, and return to my stricter/healthier ways. I really really want to stick with it this time. I keep reminding myself that it's all about the lifestyle...the journey is bound to have ups and downs...I just need to keep generally moving in the right direction.
Hope all of you are having a better start to the second half of 2008 than I am!!
Catching Up
Wow! I can't believe the group who first started has reached 2 months as of June 29th, 2008 big congratulations to our founders. Also a big congratulations to our 1 month club who has slugged it out for four weeks.
This is not easy as attested by the number of "Don't Forget" e-mails I sent out on Thursday and the MIA reminders I just sent out today. I'm always a bit disappointed when I have to move someone down or off the list, but then I look at who has stayed and is persevering and struggling and winning.
So a big Congratulations to all who are still here!
Shannyshan What is helping you to make this time different?
Sarah Welcome back! Kick the carb monster's butt!
ld1984 It is always possible to jump back on, don't let some much needed summer fun derail your long term goals.
Madikim How are things going with you? Are you on or off the wagon? How are you doing on your goals?
Hopeful31 How are things going this week? Were the scales kind?
Got2getthin Out of town is hard, that could be a good topic to ask people about.
Skinnybyjune9th You sound super busy, but like you are generally having a lot of fun. Cut yourself a bit of a break and aim for maintenance until you can get a bit more control. Oh, and cuff your husband upside the head for me.
The Vitamin Dominatrix Ah, we lost you to the PS3.... sadly, not the first person I've lost to video-gaming.... welcome back!
Karenie I'm going to add you to the list as bad weather may not be able to post. I'll do that to the end of July unless you ask me to take you off the less accountable list because may not be able to post. I'll check in with you then. Our thoughts and prayers, or safe wishes are with you and your family always.
Ka2007 What is helping you to react better than before?
msmeg Good luck with your upcoming fair, allowing yourself the maintenance slack during busy times is a real saver for me.
Wenchie58 Sounds like you have a good plan, I think that is really the required mentality, if we can't go out with our friends and family for celebrations we will never incorporate these choices into our daily lives, and if we can't do that, then we can't be successful.
Krozell I love that phrase "giving myself excuses to keep doing badly", I've done that so many times, created the rationale that since I had this big huge horrible lunch that I may as well have a grease laden dinner. Or if I'm sick and can't exercise well that means I need to have the pint of ice cream and my tostitos as comfort food.
deedee1 Welcome back! How does the bike odometer work? Where can you get one? I totally agree with mixing up the calories, this is one reason I look for a daily caloric average across a week, not a strict daily limit.
defrog3 OMG we share the same b-day! Happy b-day to you tomorrow!
jburgin How are you doing on the soda habit? I really can't believe how much it affected me. I was not a big diet soda drinker, I had maybe 1 or 2 per week, same for white refined starches. I've been off them for most of the 19 weeks I've been trying this but when there is nothing else to drink or eat (I'm out or at a friends) and I have them I've noticed this serious spike in my cravings either for sweets (diet soda) or just more foods (white refined starches).
igrattu 10 lbs! You can do that! It is VERY achievable. Try setting small daily goals that are easily achievable and don't take too much time, let the success of getting those done help you to move to bigger goals.
rwbsmom Yes Norther Ontario is hot! (just got back) although bring the Jeans anyways the mosquitos are brutal this year! Look at your goals and maybe the same as igrattu, set some small ones so that you can build a sense of achievement to build on.
Kittykat596 Don't worry about the small slip ups (see this week's topic) it's the larger picture that matters, did you get to the gym today?
Inshapemommy Congrats on your under 200 as well. I'm really hoping that when I reach the end of phase II of my plan that I will be there as well. Where is Cape May? Motivation to exercise is hard, or at least it is for me. I started by convincing myself I just had to do a little. One little tiny 30 min cardio work out a week. Once I got that done then I said okay two little tiny 30 min cardio work outs a week, I kept adding days until I was at 4 work outs a week, and then I added time until I now generally go 4 days a week for 2 hours a day. Adding it slowly helped me not only start but also to get my body used to it slowly so I didn't get the super strain that would keep me away from the gym for a week with strained muscles.
Ciosa Sorry about the computer troubles, I hate those! I know what you mean about the paper logging. I've written down all my camping food on my blackberry and I'm really not looking forward to trying to log it all here.
justjess_1 Welcome to the Group! You're in good company with the on again off again plans. As far as the accountability here we try as much as possible to make it a two way street. Motivate others and motivate yourself are two sides of the same coin. As for the nighttime snacking my plan has been to clean the kitchen after dinner so I would actually have to take out stuff to eat, and then, I go for tea first, lots and lots of tea. if I have to have food a small cookie with the tea and only grab one from the kitchen at a time and it has to last 2 cups of tea.
unlimitedana Water... oh that is my downfall. Right now I'm working on eating in calorie range and exercise, but I know a later stage of my plan will need to include upping my water intake, I have so much trouble getting enough water. I think part of it is the first few weeks I'm just running to the washroom constantly and I'm afraid to be on public transit.
Healthfirst WELCOME BACK! That is one of my big traps, I get busy, and CC is too much work, so I don't care and I just go with it for awhile and my habit slip slowly until I am back to bad habits. Stay with it, you want the long term results, don't let a week and a half of not logging or being completely on plan throw you completely off.
Hey all. So thought I'd do a check in. Doing quite well with the diet and exercise this past week. I'm actually quite impressed with myself. My husband was trying to share a candy bar with me yesterday and I just said no (big step since I LOVE chocolate). I've been trying to keep myself busy at the house in the evenings because that's when I tend to want to snack. Water, that's where I fall down at home. At work I'm always drinking water, partly because it's so dry here but also because I always have a bottle at my desk. Guess I need to try harder to keep it on hand at home.
Hope everyone is having a great week!
raven21 Way to go! on the no chocolate bar, refusing food offered to me by my partner is one of the hardest things for me to do. I also have trouble with the water.
Weekly check-in
There's good news and bad news. I'm a bad news first person. The last couple of days of camping it was not great weather so most of those days were spent in the gazebo playing cards or other games and letting myself have too many munchies, not to mention the "last night camping - everyone eat all the food so we don't have to take any home!" bash which was also accompanied by surprise Birthday cake for me (the birthday girl) which I could not turn down. C'est la vie, it was a vacation, none of those days were over 3000 cal. so not too bad as I was averaging 3000 cal when I started this journey 19 weeks ago.
Continuing on the bad news is that I'm too far over my daily limits to really recover this week, I will not meet my goal of eating a daily average of 1800 cal without really starving myself.
The plan is to use the days left in this week to work my calories back down so that it is not a sudden jolt next week.
Okay now the good news. The good news is that much to my surprise I actually ate under cal on the first few days of camping which means that I met last weeks goal of eating a daily average of 1900 cal / day. This is great news for me as I didn't expect that I could meet this goal with some of the days being vacation days. I expected that I would have to repeat the 1900 goal this week (and likely miss because of the vacation days) and then try again next week as well. So I'm onto 1800 cal goal, which I will miss this week, but have a really good shot at meeting next week! YAY 5 more weeks until phase I of plan complete (if I can stay on cal).
Camping was great although I've come back with a wicked cough from all the campfire smoke which I am now trying to kill. This was the first time I've been surprised by a b-day cake while camping so it was really nice, lots of sun, swimming, some kayaking and generally a relaxing time.
The other good news is that this is the completion of my first 12 week segment where I've been measuring my life-balance goals. I do this because it's easy for me to jump on a "diet" for 3 months and go all out on it, but then another area of my life suffers, when it is in crisis I go attend to it all out and forget about the diet. So a large part of my weight loss journey this time is managing my eating while trying to keep the other areas of my life in check.
My Quarterly Life-Balance Measurements Are:
Household: 75%
Health& Beauty: 62%
Finance: 46%
Career: 36%
Entertainment: 63
Overall: 55%
Reminder: Looking for volunteer Assistants
This thread is getting really large, and I need some help to maintain it.
If you have been active on this thread for at least 3 weeks, and have not been on the MIA list in those weeks I would love to have some help. In an ideal world we'd have one Assistant Organizer per week, but I think that is too ambitious right now, our first group has just reached their second month, so I'd like to bring on a new Assistant each time a month is completed.
I have found running this thread super motivating. Knowing that I need to get the thread up and running, try to remind those who are falling off that the journey is not over and generally being accountable to people really is what is keeping me on track at the moment.
As an assistant organizer you would need to be able to check the thread at least every other day. Respond to all posts from your group and send reminder e-mails to members of your group who have not yet posted or who have gone MIA. General time commitment I found when we were at 4 weeks was about 4 hours per week.
well, i have been off the wagon and generally very discouraged. it took me a month to lose 3 lbs, and the second i started to slip i gained the 3 lbs back and 2 more :(
however, i have a new motivation - my husband and i bought bikes and rode all over the place! i usually hate exercising, but i really enjoyed this so i'm looking forward to this helping me become healthier...it's also nice to have the husband in on the plan! i also signed up for a water aerobics class with a friend, so that should be interesting. i definately feel more motivated to log calories when i have exercised some off!
I'm back. I was away for a little over a week. Just trying to get caught up. I did resume my daily workout routine, so I feel good about that. I did put on a few pounds while away. I want to be down 10 lbs. before school starts again.
With Groups - you're not alone.Get the experience and support
of others who succeeded.
